Los Angeles Clippers Stat Monkey Brief: Clippers/Hornets (11/26/12)
(Not) Lob City Highlight of the Day
The way the Clippers have been playing the last three games, they do not deserve a highlight in this article. So instead here is a highlight of Ray Ray doing his Ray Allen thing.
Quick Recap
The four game road trip started with a great win over the Spurs, after which everyone was saying that the Clippers were the best team in L.A. and one of the best in the western conference. But that ended with three straight losses, and two of those losses (the Nets and Hawks) came against teams that don’t exactly come to mind when you think of the NBA elite. I know the Hawks may be on a five game winning streak, but the combined record of the teams the first four wins came against is 16-32.
Since writing about the Clippers’ phenomenal shooting to start the season, they haven’t been able to hit the broad side of the barn, relatively speaking. They were shooting a league-leading 49.5% through the first nine games. Over the last four games they have shot just 43.2% which would place them 21st in the league. Overall their shooting percentage has dropped by two percent and currently stands at 47.5%. It is going to be interesting to see which Clippers show tonight.
Tonight’s Game
Tonight the Clippers take on the 3-8 Hornets, who are in rebuilding mode. Tonight also kicks off a three game home stand for the Clippers; they actually play 6 of their next 7 games at home. I want to say that tonight should be an easy win for the Clippers since the Hornets are last in the league in defensive efficiency and only average on the offensive side of the ball (16th). But recently, this is the exactly type of team that the Clippers have been losing to. The Clippers have lost to the Warriors, Cavaliers, Nets, and Hawks by an average of eight points. They also beat the Grizzlies, Spurs (twice), Lakers, and Heat by an average of 10.6 points. So Clippers fans can only hope being at home and sleeping in their own beds pays off the Clippers, and the contenders show up tonight to get them back to their winning ways.
Prediction
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